Dominion
by SometimesAGreatNotion
Summary: To serve the Greater Good. To fight for the propagation of Tau. To finally fall, unremembered on an unknown world. This is the fate of all Fire Warriors, all but one.
1. A Constellation Of Doubt

The humans would call it heresy. An antiquated term but no less accurate for it's ancient origins. It served to encompass his feelings of doubt and confusion, perhaps even his guilt to a certain degree. He'd met many a servant of their God Emperor, fallen and racked by shame to be taken alive by the Greater Good. Where as many of his caste mocked their fragility, their failure to engage unto the last man and consequentially lose all faith, he had pitied them. An odd thought it occurred, Tiel Rosk, leader, fire warrior, empathizing with those who had shown themselves wanting. Maybe because, he supposed, despite all of his success, all of his battle acumen he had always been wanting himself.

He'd once heard an interesting human phrase, "A small mind is more easily filled with faith." Like everything the curious pink skins espoused it was stilted in religious meaning, argued by many to be primitive but, he thought, wholly accurate. For all his peoples enlightenment, for all the wonders of the Tau it could only be maintained by those who followed, keeping faith. Being simple believers. As he sighted his plasma rifle scope across the stinking wastes and observed the host across the three kilometres of swamp, he knew he no longer believed.

Eschewing his helmet despite the smell, Tiel Rosk was paler than those kin dug in along the shoreline with him. His blue face was more inset, producing a heavier brow and serious countenance. His brothers and sisters thought him mad to wander an alien world so unmasked, as if his armour should protect him not only from the enemies weapons, but an untamed planet as yet uncivilised by their influence. Tiel snorted. Such arrogance. The planet had enjoyed a perfectly fine civilisation for thousands of years until they had arrived. A human civilisation to be sure, with towering gothic spires and thousands of temples to their Emperor, but one free from the agony they had brought in their drop ships.

After seizing the capital it even seemed beautiful in a way, not choked and dying like the hives Tiel had seen images of during training. Slapping some more mud onto his leg guards he noticed the trooper next to him staring, probably in disgust, at such basic field craft. Arrogant. He wondered when he had come to despise his own kind so much? It had started long before this campaign, before perhaps he was even a soldier. A process that had taken three decades of life and had finally come to fruition a few days before.

* * *

"This place reeks" Shas'la Kandar muttered over the intercom. Spaced evenly two metres apart, the first three members of Tiels squad advanced at his back and keeping low. The other two being dead, sucked out of a gaping maw in the side of their Orca transport barely an hour ago. "Quiet" Tiel bit back, panning his visored helm over the surrounding building for any sign of the heat trace they'd spotted moments before. Nothing. "It could have been a sensor ghost Shas'ui" Kandar responded after a second, "Primitive Imperial jamming devices are still in effect over much of the city." Tiel smiled to himself.

"So primitive as to outwit our own scanners Kandar? Explain that to me."

After a pause lasting several seconds his subordinate inclined his head, "I misspoke Shas'ui. There is no way basic Imperial equipment would be a match for our own technology."

Kandar had always lacked imagination Tiel thought, but he was a crack shot to rival his own abilities with a pulse rifle. "Command will filter out the static soon enough." This came from the warrior directly at his back, Liat Thule, "until then we should maintain standard pattern searches and investigate any potential enemy sighting." That one was after his position, a fact that only his continued breathing interfered with. He could practically feel the crosshairs between his shoulder blades.

"Or" he interjected, "I could make our decisions. As touching as I find your faith Liat I doubt the interference will be cleared up as quickly as we would like. Did you even read the briefing on this world, or simply assume that a magneta level threat assessment wasn't worthy of your time?" He'd purposefully injected a harsher tone into the last few syllables, no doubt his young protege would be taking umbrage.

"Of course I did, leader" and Tiel noted the indignation with which she chewed off his rank. He'd seen Kroot carnivores have an easier time tearing open a prostrate Squiggoth carcass. "Imperial designation Higher Sentorum, population two billion, planetary defence force compliment ten million, primary focus of industry, agriculture..." Tiel cut her off with a comm blurt and brought the squad to a halt.

It had happened again, the undefined heat signature registering for but a moment several buildings down and running directly parallel to themselves. Waving them on they advanced with caution. "Did you read the historical data entries or bypass straight to the disposition briefing?" Tiel asked, unconsciously lowering his voice despite anyone other than his squad being able to hear him.

Not giving Liat time to formulate a response he ploughed on, "If you had you would know that at some point in the distant past, the human's Machine Cult established an unknown base in the Friega mountain range 50 kilometres east of our current position. They" he said glancing briefly back at Kandar, "would be more than able to jam our readings." Then it happened. His scanners bloomed registering multiple targets, human targets.

They burst from the adjoining low rise tenements, dozens of bodies pressed together into an unruly mob. They ran not towards the Fire Warriors, but away down the street in a mad panic. Fleeing the alien. "All hold, repeat all hold" Tiel grunted, watching the civilians for any sign of aggressive intent.

It had been the same since the landing, Imperial forces and population withdrawing without a fight. Suffice as to say it was beginning to unnerve command, who had become inured to the near Ork like aggression that typified Imperial defence.

"Do you hear something?" This came from Kandar and almost immediately Tiel heard it too. A low pitch humming, a very familiar low pitch humming. They came from over the rooftops, a swarm of at least thirty, a deadly mass of claws, mandibles and compound eyes. Baring in towards the crowd on the ground Tiel readjusted his comm frequency, "This is Shas'ui Rosk to inbound Vespid hive team, targets designated none hostile. Engagement denied, repeat engagement denied. Respond." His ear mic stayed silent as the swarm augured in, the first few humans spotting the threat as they crested the roofs of the buildings. "Engagement denied" Tiel all but snarled, "break off damn you!"

Again no response and now the lead Vespid, undoubtedly the strain leader was dropping from the skies. Eschewing the rifle across his back he'd extended his diamond hard claws, enhanced my the magnification of Tiels helmet to the horrific proportions the fleeing civilians would soon be experiencing. The dread settling within his stomach was impossible to describe as time dilated to a crawl.

He could see the face of a young woman. He didn't know if she was beautiful by human standards, her face contorted in fear and for a base half second as she registered the creature descending to block her escape, he could have sworn their eyes met.

It was impossible of course, he could only see her thanks to his enhanced optics but it felt that way all the same. And just before she was obscured from view by grey skin and claws he noted the reservation, the sudden turn from panicked flight to... He had no idea. Acceptance? Surely not, she was so young. She should have been pounding on the beasts armour, screaming, running all the harder. But instead she simply stopped. That was all he saw. Then the dying began and to his eternal shame, he looked away.

By Tau" he heard Liat mutter. The other trooper in their group, a relative newcomer by the name of Torrido pulled the helm from his head and vomited onto the street. "These things are our allies?" he muttered, wiping the stray spittle from his chin. Tiel nodded, looking back just as the Vespid took flight once more. The whole event had lasted a mere twenty seconds according to his chronometer.

The pile of bodies was nothing more than heaped viscera, but unlike Torrido, Tiel didn't feel his bilge rise. This was not the first Vespid slaughter he had seen. "They are for the Greater Good" Kandar offered, but his voice held no conviction. Standing in the heart of the abandoned city Tiel signaled the advance and wondered to himself, what vengeance would their enemies Emperor demand in penance?


	2. Faith

The entire city had been occupied without a single round being fired in anger. No bombs had fallen, no men had scrambled over their fallen comrades, bloodstained, terrified. It had simply happened, a none event to rival the battle that should have taken place. Padding up the stairs of one of the cities temples, the temporary command headquarters for the Higher Sentorum colonisation, Tiel couldn't shake the thought.

Behind him troop transports ferried in ever more Fire Warriors, Battlesuits and Skyray gunships in a procession of uncontested strength that left his mouth bitter. He was a hunter, if nothing else he could always cling to that singular identity.

But his prey had roundly evaded him in this instance and now, despite the hopeful chatter on the comm bands, were doubtless waiting to blood the invader on their own terms. A few had dared to believe that the lack of resistance was a form of supplication, but if the orbital scans he had been called to consult where any indication, the Imperium had no intention of surrender.

Entering through the richly adorned front doors, a myriad of Imperial saints abased before the central light of their home world, Tiel shuddered. He was not welcome here, not in this place. As cathedrals went it was a humble building, with a central knave bisecting the two rows of pews that had been cleared against the walls or pillars. In their place sat data banks and processing engines, each manned by members of the Earth Caste.

The entire space buzzed with voices and the ever present sound of hooves and feet. Heroes of the Imperium, of the stalwart Guard, fervent Sisters and feared Astartes peered down at the invaders with unabashed judgement and undeniable hatred. This church it seemed had been frequented by warriors, maintained by the humans Ecclesiarchy to cater to the needs of the soldier. Religion, as Tiel had understood it, was central to the tenements of Imperial combat.

So it made sense that they would set aside their own temples in which to worship. And as he watched members of the Earth Caste demolish the central pulpit, he knew for certain they would be back to reclaim their faith. With bolter, sword and damnation. Tiel chuckled at the thought, he was beginning to sound like some kind of human soothsayer. What would Liat think?

"Considering a new faith, Shas'ui?" Skirting around a group of technicians as they maneuvered a portable command dais into position, the speaker was revealed to be a human woman bedecked in Tau plate. Taller than himself, with short cropped hair and a snipers eyes she followed his gaze to the surrounding architecture. "Impressive isn't it? Reminds me of the chapel back on Taros, only a hell of a lot bigger." Tiel inclined his head in acknowledgement, if not understanding.

"Are you well, Gue'vesa'ui Sian?" The young woman smiled and offered a nervous laugh.

"It's odd being back on Imperial soil. Almost like I never left." Regarding a fresco worked into one of the support columns, she expelled a small sigh. Tiel had know Sian since her inception into the Gue'vesa, the human auxiliaries that supported the Tau Empire.

She'd demonstrated a keen eye and he had personally trained her in the use of spotter drones to accentuate her capabilities. As such he'd come to understand human facial expressions far better than most of his compatriots, and could see now the troubled look lurking beneath her smiling facade. "Sian, is something wrong?"

Reaching out with her hand her fingers brushed lightly against the fresco, before she quickly withdrew it as if burned. "I'm like him Tiel. Everyday I thank the Greater Good for what it did for my family. We would have starved without the Tau and I'll fight for the rest of my life to make good that debt. But, now I'm like him." Turning to look at the fresco himself he saw the Emperor, envisioned as he had seen on several human worlds as a man encased in an armour of light.

From above his head he brought a mighty sword crashing down onto another figure, a man almost as large as the Emperor himself, but shrouded in darkness. "You believe yourself to be like the arch traitor Horus?" he asked, slightly alarmed that his friend would see herself in such terms. With a sad smile she looked him in the face and shrugged. "I'm amazed you remembered, I didn't think you listened when I talked about the Imperial Cult."

"I remembered" he nodded, "and I also know that you're no traitor. It wasn't treachery to choose to live." Sian shook her head.

"Yes, it was. I've raised my hand against the throne and when I die, I'll suffer for it." Watching the organised chaos around them her voice became exceptionally quiet and Tiel had to strain to hear her. "Being away let me forget what I'd done. It let me lock it away in a little box inside my mind as if it never happened. That's not an option anymore, not on the cusp of fighting my own kind."

As if suddenly aware of where she was, Sian turned to her mentor and mustered a smile. "But my undying service rests with you Shas'ui, you have my word as a soldier."

"I never thought anything else Gue'vesa'ui." Putting his hand on her shoulder he continued, "Remember, it is not a sin to doubt." Turning to leave she looked backed at him, an expression on her face he couldn't identify. "I sometimes forget how not human you are." As she walked away he wondered at how untrue that statement was.

* * *

Stationed at the Demial Plaza, a collection of ornamental gardens that shadowed the governors palace, Tiel could feel his squads anticipation. "What news Shas'ui, is the war already over?" Kandar asked. They were sat in one of the many private gazebos littered around the gardens, a moment of serenity before reality reasserted itself. A reality that Kandar's inquisitive nature had just invited in.

"Unless the Imperium is planning on throwing a victory parade for us with it's gathering forces, no Shas'la." Sitting as he customarily did when not on duty, helm removed, he looked into the visor covered faces of his squad and ordered his thoughts.

It was a quirk of his Sept, the obsession with being armoured at all times. It was a propriety that originated on the home world as a snobbish affront to ones opponent, a refusal to even look them in the eye. Over the centuries it had migrated and in some extreme cases, become a cultural phenomena that inculcated itself into certain areas of the Tau military.

Especially common within the oldest Septs of the empire it's virulence was accepted as the norm, a direct contradiction to the Greater Good. It bred a class divide, the unspoken belief that the original Septs formed an elite, a group in some way removed from their peers on the frontier worlds. Tiel had never understood why the Ethereals allowed it to continue, not that he considered himself knowledgeable in the realms of politics but simply realised it to be divisive.

"It is now believed that Imperial forces withdrew from the capital in order to consolidate their strength." Placing a portable holo pad on the floor, the gazebo was suddenly lit with the orbital scans he'd collected from command earlier in the day.

"As you can see" he said, highlighting an area forty miles to the east of the city limits, "they have been busy." From the relative safety of low orbit the spy drone had captured the vast human war host as it assembled. Much of the area was obscured by mile upon mile of dust clouds, a clear indication of innumerable armoured formations thundering in from the plains surrounding the capital.

But in amongst the atmospheric debris thrown up by thousands of tank treads, five sigils caught the attention of his squad ahead of all the others cluttering the map. Where as the majority of Imperial units where designated by a shield, these bore that of a skull bisected by a sword. "Imperial Guard" Liat muttered. Tiel nodded.

"It would seem that our invasion was foreseen. Signal traffic indicates they landed only three days ago, which cannot be a coincidence." It had caused quite the stir at the mission briefing back at command, a microcosm of which could be felt by the terse glances of his squad at that moment. Moving on Tiel wondered again at how the Imperium had known. A spy? Luck? Divine providence? Not that it mattered now they were committed, but still it nagged at the periphery of his thoughts as he continued the briefing. How?

To the rear of the Imperial forces rose the Friega mountains, a range that stretched for up to two hundreds miles eastwards to the primary agricultural belt. They, in stark contrast to the never ending greenery that began where they ended, where comprised of scorched black volcanic rock. Lifeless and barren they proved an ominous obstacle to the Tau forces, a natural bastion, or so command suspected.

For despite the exemplary work of the Water Caste in gathering information for the invasion, the Friega mountains remained a question mark. Even basic geological reading had been inconclusive, which had lead to the conclusion that the Mechanicus base in the region was jamming their scans.

"Our intention" Tiel continued, "is to launch a multi pronged attack before the enemy has completed their preparations." Pointing to the holo chart several large arrows emerged from the Tau lines and struck at the key defensive pickets screening the Imperial army.

"Having punctured their outer defence, our primary objective will be the elimination of the Guard regiments that have been deployed to stiffen the resolve of the local PDF forces." In sync with his briefing the war host on the map collapsed into disarray, some units surrendering wholesale or withdrawing up into the mountains behind.

"Command believes that having shattered the enemies coherence and by forcing them onto the defensive in the Friega range, we can bottle them up and starve them out. Even if they've prepared food reserves in advance, these cannot last forever. Especially as they suffer under the attrition of our harassing raids and by then, orbital and concentrated artillery fire."

At this the holo disengaged and Tiel looked to his troopers. The mission he was about to outline being the most difficult he had ever been assigned. How many of them would be stood here in a few days time, if any? Pushing aside his concern he came to focus on the task at hand. "We, along with a cadre of our finest Pathfinders have been tasked with identifying those regiments which will be the cornerstone of our assault. Suffice as to say, our mission is of critical importance so if their are any questions or concerns, air them now."

Barely a second later Liat rose to her feet, the squad following suit in near perfect harmony. "By the Ethereals that make Tau strong, we will not fail Shas'ui" she intoned, heartfelt, convicted. Rising to accept their dedication himself, Tiel almost forgot his own lingering doubts. "For the Greater Good!" he barked, slamming his fist to his chest. "For the Greater Good!" they chorused and for a moment, he almost believed it. These being his troops, his Fire Warriors. Against them, what chance did the Imperium or the Guard truly have?


End file.
